" some think it is their right to abuse us"

And why isn't it... You're an invasion into a persons private space... If you walked into my home unbidden, you'd get a lot more abuse than a few harsh words...

The abuse is part of what you're getting paid to endure... (I know... I've done it... it was a necessary evil to make rent.. and I still feel dirty thinking about it... if I ever get that bad off again, I'll whole instead!)

Be thankful you've never called my chum... He talks very quiet to cold-callers until he hears them turn the phone up on their end, and then he blows his wife's "rape" whistle as loud as he can into the phone! Needless to say, very few ever call more than once...

On the other side... you whiners "It's MY money" and "Why should I have to..." gotta give me a frigg'n break... Caller ID is pennies a day... and so what if they come up "Unknown"... so DON'T answer it if ya don't recognize the number... how hard a concept is that???

I mean, you filter spam email addys right? And you use pay sites on the net when you want no adds but quality right? You get flyers and adverts in the mail box right?

Your phone, your door, your computer, your mailbox are gateways to the outside world... It's your responsibility to filter it at your end...

And the "democracy' angle... ummm... how many people are in the US? And even if they did get 50 million sigs... Cold calling MUST work on some level, otherwise these companies wouldn't still be paying all these people to do it! There's yer democracy!

I want a phone I can program... Numbers I add to it get automatically 'in' and make the phone ring... I MIGHT even answer it... (That's a sub-rant.. where is it written that you HAVE to answer the phone just because it rings?????) anyone else goes instantly to a voice mail server where they can leave a message and maybe I'll get back to them when I check...

I also want tech to keep those pair if young guys in their short white sleeves and leather bound mind control devices off my porch... If I see 'em there as I'm opening the door, I say "No thanks" and close the door before they can get a word out...